11 Comments

Dear Becky,

You are right on target. Thanks for discussing the lamentable situation of writers who cancel colleagues. It is not new, (ex. eugenics), but certainly highlights the cultural conflicts within the American literary scene.

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Becky, Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine (SBLAAM.com) is an Asheville-based litmag. Our fiction editor, who lives in Florida, is acting editor-in-chief presently. The poetry editor and the visual arts editor are local in and around Asheville. I'm the nonfiction editor in Maryland. Most of our readers are scattered across the country - we haven't heard from the two who live in and around Asheville, which is worrying - but we're able to keep much of the work going until John gets back up and running.

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Hi Peter, thanks so much for this update. That is indeed worrying! I appreciate you sharing with us here.

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No Becky, Terry was his ex son-in-law. Still awful. Apparently, the older girl was able to grab the younger and pull her out of the flood that took their father.

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Ah I see. Wow. Please pass along my sincerest condolences.

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An update: Our folks in Asheville are safe and recovering, however, our editor's young granddaughters lost their father in the disaster. A gofundme account has opened to support them, Terry's Daughters' Fund.

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Oh gosh, Peter, how terrible. Does that mean your editor lost her son? I can't even fathom. Thank you for coming back to share this news with us.

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ugh, I should learn how to use this stuff. Reply done in standard post. sorry

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I do not see it as "canceling" Elisa Albert for Gawad and her colleague to refuse to be on a panel with her. Free speech is also the freedom to NOT speak, and, as the slaughter rages on unchecked in Palestine and Lebanon, Gawad has no obligation to sit on a stage with someone who makes her personally uncomfortable. Elisa Albert has been very loud about her support of Israel's attacks against Palestinians and, now, the Lebanese people. That is her right. Gawad, on the other hand has been removed from her position as Writer in Residence from the Wilton Library because of her refusal to speak. Gawad's free expression, her right not to speak, was punished, which will come as a surprise to literally no Arab American. PEN America has come out in support of Gawad.

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Becky, Thanks you for continuing to pass along, without inflammatory commentary, news of intolerance in the literary community. Much appreciated.

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< Creative Writing Program Director at Colorado State University, Camille T. Dungy says: “I’ll never send a poem to publication without running it by three people whose opinions I trust.” >

Seriously........????

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